Estimating software for NZ residential builders. See every material, labour hour and assumption before you send the quote. Free plan, no credit card.
CostMate is estimating software for New Zealand residential builders, from a one-person business to a firm with an office and a crew, pricing renovations, decks, bathrooms, fences and additions. It builds the estimate and the quote you send, then carries on once you win the job with variations, hours, receipts and progress claims. It works alongside the accounting and job software you already run.
It depends which job you need the software to do: price the work before you win it, or run the job after you have. Most NZ residential builders need the first done fast and the second done reliably, and the tools split along that line.
Buildxact is the established choice for on-screen take-offs from plans, with estimating, quoting, scheduling and job tracking in one platform. Tradify, Fergus and NextMinute are job-management tools with quoting included, built around scheduling, timesheets and invoicing once the job is on.
CostMate starts where a job is won or lost, the estimate, for NZ residential builders, from one person to a team of up to 50: pick the job type, describe it, and get materials, labour hours, assumptions and exclusions priced from NZ trade pricing that is already loaded. Once the job is won it carries on with variations, hours, receipts and progress claims. It lays a job's stages out as a programme, takes deposits and progress claims, and sends drafts to your Xero for you to approve. It is not a crew scheduler or full accounting, so keep the software you already run for those.
Side by side, feature by feature: CostMate vs Buildxact, CostMate vs Tradify, CostMate vs Fergus, CostMate vs NextMinute and CostMate vs spreadsheets.
You pick the job type and describe the work. CostMate returns a structured estimate: the materials with quantities, the labour broken into phases and hours, the assumptions it made, and the exclusions worth putting in front of a client before they sign.
Every material line says where its price came from: your own supplier pricing, a named Dayle ITM or PlaceMakers baseline, or, where no supplier price was found, CostMate's own rate, marked "Indicative · Verify" so you know to check it. That way you can check a number before you put your name on it rather than after.
From there it produces the client-facing quote. Inside CostMate the working number is called an estimate; what the client reads is the quote. Same numbers, different document.
There is also a free Quote Checker that reads a quote you have already written and flags scope gaps for review, and a set of free calculators and trade tools that need no account at all.
Put through a job you have already priced and sent. It is the quickest way to see whether CostMate's numbers hold up against your own.
Check that the labour rate matches what you actually charge, or the labour won't compare.
Then describe the job and enter the measurements. Compare the materials, the labour hours and the total with the quote you sent. Every material line says where its price came from, and a line marked "Indicative · Verify" is one where no supplier price was found, so you know which numbers to check first.
If you buy from someone other than Dayle ITM or PlaceMakers, the material prices won't line up until you upload your own supplier pricing, which you can do on any plan, including Free. The free plan and the 30-day trial both let you do all of this without a card.
Not for the estimate. An estimate's numbers come from a rules engine, not a language model, and that is worth understanding before you trust any estimating tool that mentions AI.
In a CostMate estimate, every quantity, price, labour hour, grade and modifier is computed by a rules engine. The language model is not allowed anywhere near them. It writes only the words: the scope summary, the assumptions, the exclusions, the variation notes. That separation is enforced in code by an allow-list, not by asking the model nicely.
Some other features do use a language model and can give figures, among them The Foreman, the assistant you can ask questions, and the check that compares a competing quote with yours. Treat any figure they give as a starting point to check. It is not part of the estimate.
The practical difference is that the same job entered twice returns the same numbers, and every figure can be traced back to a rule and a source rather than to a sentence a model produced. A tool that lets a model generate the quantities cannot offer either of those things.
Yes, built for it rather than adapted to it. Pricing is in NZD and comes from Dayle ITM and PlaceMakers trade pricing loaded into every account, including the free one, so there is nothing to upload before you get a first estimate. On any plan, including Free, you can upload your own supplier pricing, and it takes priority over the built-in baseline.
Scope checks reference NZ Building Code clauses (E2, E3, H1 and B1 (Structure) among them) and are included for review, so you can verify them against your plans and confirm with the BCA before quoting. They are advisory: CostMate flags what is worth checking, it does not issue a determination.
It is built in Auckland by a qualified carpenter, which is mostly relevant because the job types, the wastage allowances and the labour phases are the ones an NZ residential builder actually meets.
There is a free plan with no credit card, and a 30-day trial of the paid features that also needs no payment details. If the trial ends you drop to the free plan. Nothing you have built is deleted, and sent quotes stay accessible whatever happens to your subscription.
Current plans and what is in each are on the pricing page. The walkthrough shows the flow end to end.
Thinking of switching from a job-management app? Read how Tradify charges per user, Tradify alternatives, Fergus alternatives, or Buildxact's price and Australian defaults.
An estimate is a starting point you check, not a number to send unread. Confirm prices against your own supplier accounts and anything structural against your plans and the BCA before you quote.
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